1 year.

Today marks one year that Ben and I have been "officially" back together. You can read some of our story here.

What a year it has been! I am so unbelievably thankful for our relationship and for how everything has unfolded. It was undoubtedly God's perfect timing and plan. I am so blessed and ridiculously happy in every aspect of the word.

We are celebrating tonight and I am SO looking forward to it.

And now for our year in photos...

Benjamin Andrew Rhodes, I love you and you have no idea how thankful I am for you.

Christmas Festivities.

I hosted my very first mini Christmas party at my house last night :) It was just a thing I did with a few close girlfriends and it turned out to be really nice!

I enjoyed the preparation for it as well as the outcome.

A few photos...

Hope you're all having a joyous Holiday Season! I can't believe how close Christmas is!

A bit of a Christmas throwback

Who doesn't remember being dressed up in the most uncomfortable clothes ever and having to have your picture taken for a Christmas card or photo to send to all of the family?

Ash and I do. And there are more where this came from. How about our Amish dresses? We were awesome. Thanks, mom.

That year we got our first car ever. It was probably the best Christmas I can remember to date (As a little kid, anyway).

We were stoked (and freezing in the below zero West Virginia temperatures). I remember that day so vividly.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at my little apartment :)

Ben and I went Christmas tree shopping for my apartment last night! It was SO much fun. This is the first time in my life where I have lived alone and had my own place to decorate. I have so many wonderful memories of putting up Christmas trees and decorations with my family and Christmas has been and always will be the greatest time of the year in my eyes. I have the fondest Christmas memories.

I contemplated not getting a tree because Ben and I will be driving to my Parent's the week before Christmas, so I didn't really see much sense in decorating if I'm not even going to be here. However, Ben was very adamant about getting a tree for my apartment. He stated that he was buying it, it was going to be real and we were going to decorate it together. Love him!

Needless to say, I'm very glad that he talked some sense into me!

Shopping for decorations/ornaments/ribbon etc.

Loading her up!

A little dinner and cheers paired with some Dean Martin Christmas in the record player before we got started.

The finished product!

Us with our tree creation.

We had such a wonderful time together and I will always cherish the memory. I am so blessed and thankful. It's a good thing he loves Christmas as much (or maybe even a little bit more) than I do!

Merry Christmas!!!

Thankful.

To have been able to spend Thanksgiving with my incredible boyfriend and his precious family. It was absolutely wonderful and memories were made that I will never forget. I am so grateful for Ben's family and I feel so "at home" with them.

I didn't get many pictures but I was able to snap a few with my phone and Ben's mom took a couple.

Ben and I arriving. (The "Lil Wayne" shirt I bought him as a joke and he wears it! Ha!)

Beautiful Thanksgiving table.

We were able to sneak away from his grandparents for a little bit on Friday to drive 2 hours to Charlotte and see my family. It was so nice to be home. My Mom had already decorated for Christmas and my Grandparents and cousins were there. It was such a special time. Short but definitely sweet.

My lovely sister and I.

My two favorite sisters.

All in all, it was a wonderful and perfect holiday weekend spent with amazing people. I wouldn't have changed a thing. Ben's grandfather was home from the hospital and it was so nice to get to spend time with him. We took advantage of every moment.

I'm thankful for all of the amazing blessings in my life but mostly for the people I am blessed to share my life with. I can't imagine how lonely it must be to spend these holidays alone or with people who don't love and appreciate you and vice versa. God has given me two amazing families and a wonderful boyfriend who showers me with love and acceptance every single day. I really don't deserve all of this but I am grateful just the same.

I hope all of you had a beautiful Thanksgiving holiday with loved ones!

I'm getting really excited about Christmas! Ben is going to help me put up a tree in my apartment tomorrow night, I have a fancy Christmas work dinner this weekend, so much Christmas shopping to do (I enjoy every second of it) and we will be leaving in just a few weeks to Charlotte where I will be for a week and then will be spending Christmas Day in West Virginia with my Mom's side of the family. Ben will be with me and I am SO excited for him to get to experience this with me. I can't wait. So much to look forward to in the coming weeks. This is undoubtedly the best time of year!

What a

fabulous weekend!

The wedding on Friday was beautiful and a lot of fun.

Here are a few photos of my date and I :)

And Saturday I attended another wedding with my lovely grandparents.

MeMa and I. I just love her.

I can't believe Thanksgiving is in 10 days! That blows my mind.

I'm very much looking forward to it. I'll be accompanying Ben and his family to North Carolina to spend it at his grandparent's house. However, his grandfather has been in the hospital for the past week with pneumonia. If you're the praying kind, pray he recovers quickly, retrieves his strength and can be home in time for the holidays. He's such a special and sweet Man. I know this has been hard on Ben's family. These types of things are never easy to deal with.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Oh and my little sister, Hannah just started a blog so, go be a follower.

:)

just because.

I have two weddings to attend this weekend. I love weddings.

I may or may not have purchased two different dresses for both weddings for the sheer fact that I had a valid excuse to do so. Come on, we all know that attending a wedding = buying a new dress so therefore attending 2 weddings = buying 2 new dresses. Simple math, my friends.

Last night my love surprised me by cooking me a delicious dinner! Grilled steak, brussel sprouts cooked in soy sauce ( we LOVE them), fried okra and an incredible spinach salad. He's a definite keeper.

I feel like I harp on how amazing my boyfriend is on here a lot. I'm sorry if that makes you gag or roll your eyes. I've never been "that girl" before until now and I remember how sometimes it could be annoying when others would write or talk about things of this nature. I think it was more or less me feeling as though I would never experience what they were experiencing and maybe I was a bit jealous? Well, now it's here and I'm not going to lie- I'm totally relishing every second of it. I'm so blessed. I've never experienced anything like this in all of my life and this may be too transparent but I am so totally and completely in love and couldn't be more sure about anything.

We've talked a lot about future plans some lately and I'm getting very excited as to how things will map out. Life is so fun right now!

Kind of a goofy picture but I just love him :)

I'm no fashionista by any means but our mall just got a new store called Cotton On and I'm obsessed already. Below are two of a few purchases I made last night.

Cardigan and dress together were under $30.00. Amazing.

Paired with a few favorite accessories and Wa la...

Leggings from Cotton On- $4.99

Belt from TJ Maxx- $3.00

Boots are Bandolino's Genuine Leather and I found them at a second hand store- $29.99

Bag from Target- $19.99

Aviators from Aldo- $8.99